Improvements for funding of women startups (report)
Funding of women-founded US startups has improved this year, according to financial data and software company PitchBook report All In: Women in the VC Ecosystem. Female-founded companies raised USD 40.4 billion across 2,661 deals through the first three quarters of 2021, breaking the previous annual deal value record of USD 23.7 billion in 2019.
- A decade ago, only $3.6 billion was invested in all female-founded startups.
- In 2020, VC dollars invested in female-founded companies fell by 3% and deal count fell by 2% year-over-year. At the same time, the US startup ecosystem increased deal value by 16% – meaning female founders received a smaller portion of a larger pie.
- Despite the pandemic, the median valuation for all early-stage startups increased 15% year-over-year in 2020. However, for female-founded companies at that stage, the median only rose by 4%. The gap has sustained itself so far in 2021.
- Venture investors have closed over 2,000 deals totaling USD 30 billion with female-founded technology companies thus far in 2021 – an 83% increase in value over 2020 levels already.
- Exit value year-to-date ($58.8 billion) has more than doubled the previous annual record, marking a 144% increase for female-founded startup exits compared to the overall US VC market’s 102% increase. The same outperformance happened in 2020: 32% increase compared to 8%.
The report says the number of US-based female investors has increased by nearly 3.5% since 2019, with women now holding 15.4% of GP positions.
”Studies and anecdotes suggest that female founders tend to seek out female investors and the chances of a female-founded company successfully securing financing can rise with a female investor in the room”, PitchBook says.
The European Commission has stated that improving gender equality could generate 10.5 million jobs by 2050 and boost the EU economy with Euro 1.95 – 3.15 trilllion. Still, UNECO says worldwide female STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students only represent 35% of the total number of STEM students in higher education.
Startup Heatmap’s latest research on Women Entrepreneurs in Europe shows 15.5% of entrepreneurs in Europe are female and women raise 38% less than men when starting up a company under the same conditions.
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